ESCR Document Database
Fact Sheet No. 16, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Organization: United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis. While the significance of national and
regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind, it is the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action Vienna Declaration And Programme Of Action (Part 1, para. 5), adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 25 June 1993 (A/CONF. 157/24 (Part 1), chap. III).
[Editor's note: The following are excerpts from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' Fact Sheet No.16 (Rev.1), The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and are reproduced here for the purpose of introducing economic, social and cultural rights in general and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.]
Under international human rights law (as well as in terms of its application at the national level), civil and political rights have, in many respects, received more attention, legal codification and judicial interpretation, and have been instilled in public consciousness to a far greater degree, than economic, social and cultural rights. It is therefore sometimes wrongly presumed that only civil and political rights (right to a fair trial, right to equality of treatment, right to life, right to vote, right to be free from discrimination, etc.) can be subject to violation, measures of redress and international legal scrutiny. Economic, social and cultural rights are often viewed as effectively "second-class rights"-unenforceable, non-justiciable, only to be fulfilled "progressively" over time.
Such perspectives, however, overlook a postulate of the global human rights system formulated as long ago as 1948 with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely, that the indivisibility and interdependence of civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights are fundamental tenets of international human rights law. This point of view has been repeatedly reaffirmed, most recently at the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993. One of the central reaffirmations of the equal nature of these two sets of rights is found in General Assembly resolution 32/130 of 16 December 1977, which asserts (para. 1):
"(a) All human rights and fundamental freedoms are indivisible and interdependent; equal attention and urgent consideration should be given to the implementation, promotion and protection of both civil and political, and economic, social and cultural rights;
"(b) The full realization of civil and political rights without the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights is impossible; the achievement of lasting progress in the implementation of human rights is dependent upon sound and effective national and international policies of economic and social development, as recognized by the Proclamation of Teheran of 1968
Economic, social and cultural rights are fully recognised by the international community and throughout international human rights law. Although these rights have received less attention than civil and political rights, far more serious consideration than ever before is currently being devoted to them. The question is not whether these rights are basic human rights, but rather what entitlements they imply and the legal nature of the obligations of States to realise them.
Economic, social and cultural rights are designed to ensure the protection of people as full persons, based on a perspective in which people can enjoy rights, freedoms and social justice simultaneously. In a world where, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), "a fifth of the developing world's population goes hungry every night, a quarter lacks access to even a basic necessity like safe drinking-water, and a third lives in a state of abject poverty-at such a margin of human existence that words simply fail to describe it UNDP, Human Development Report 1994 (Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 2.
the importance of renewed attention and commitment to the full realisation of economic, social and cultural rights is self-evident.
Despite significant progress since the establishment of the United Nations in addressing problems of human deprivation, well over one billion people live in circumstances of extreme poverty, homelessness, hunger and malnutrition, unemployment, illiteracy and chronic ill health. More than 1.5 billion people lack access to clean drinking-water and sanitation, some 500 million children don't have access to even primary education; and more than one billion adults cannot read and write. This massive scale of marginalisation, in spite of continued global economic growth and development, raises serious questions, not only of development, but also of basic human rights.
Of all global human rights standards, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provides the most important international legal framework for protecting these basic human rights.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Appendix A) was adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI) of 16 December 1966, following almost 20 years of drafting debates. It finally gained the force of law a decade later, entering into force on 3 January 1976.
The Covenant contains some of the most significant international legal provisions establishing economic, social and cultural rights, including rights relating to work in just and favourable conditions, to social protection, to an adequate standard of living, to the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health, to education and to enjoyment of the benefits of cultural freedom and scientific progress.
Compliance by States parties with their obligations under the Covenant and the level of implementation of the rights and duties in question is monitored by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.